By: Blonde Two
Featured image: Copyright Ordnance Survey 2016
We all know that blue areas on an Ordnance Survey map (with exception of some symbols, numbers and grid lines) represent water. If you look at this image, you can see that this little area of ‘not-quite-Dartmoor’ is really rather wet.
Copyright: Ordnance Survey 2016
The water thing is quite easy to understand really:
- Round blue shapes are round bits of water.
- Long blue shapes are rivers, streams, leats or canals.
- Caravan blue shapes are not sunken caravans.
- Grass shapes that are blue are not grass, they are bogs!
I’ll leave you to work out why there are so many round blue shapes around Newton Abbot, the clues are on the map (which is why maps make for such great treasure hunts!). I told you a bit about the Stover Canal yesterday. Being a map geek (a pre-requisite for an OS Champion), I couldn’t wait to get home and see how this really quite dry canal looked on the map. It would be great if the Stover Canal could be restored to its former glory (you can find out how to volunteer your help here). Ordnance Survey don’t have a map symbol for ‘wide tree-filled ditch’ so they have stuck with the traditional blue line and reminded anyone who was planning to bring their barge along that the canal is disused.
One more question for you (again the clue is on the map) why do you think this section of canal fell into disuse from around 1867?
PS The very best map to buy if you like a bit of blue is the Isles of Scilly 1:25,000 (Explorer 101), there really isn’t much land at all! This snippet also contains my favourite place name ever ‘Wingletang’!
Copyright: Ordnance Survey 2016
The coming of the railway.
Contours indicate flood plain.
Interesting to note the old canal following the line of the contour.
There is a wealth of OS markings on this bit of map. Note the straight line running from south-west to north-east, what the OS pompously call an “electricity transmission line” – the actual pylons are marked which can be useful for navigation.
Have you read “Map Addict” – by Mike Parker? If not, you must.
It is a fascinating map snippet isn’t it. You are right about the railway of course, I like its proximity to the canal. Will keep an eye out for ‘Map Addict”.